With high energy costs and ever-increasing awareness of environmental issues, the utilization of solar energy in building architecture and design has continued to evolve and grow. Particularly, many have turned to passive solar energy technologies as a practical and cost-effective alternative to traditional energy sources such as fossil fuels for meeting a building's conditioning needs.
Passive solar technology and design refers to the harnessing of the sun's energy for the heating, cooling, and lighting of buildings and living spaces. Passive solar energy systems typically operate by incorporating the building itself or some element associated therewith to collect, store, and transfer solar energy in the form of thermal energy in the winter and provide shade to reflect thermal energy in the summer. Passive solar energy systems take advantage of a building's location, climate, and materials to achieve energy savings and reduction of environmental damage, without sacrificing functionality or aesthetics. Such systems require minimal maintenance and require little to no mechanical or electrical devices.
Generally, conventional passive solar systems by nature are simple and static with few moving parts. As a consequence, however, once a passive solar building is built, the thermal characteristics of that building are often fixed and dictated primarily by its external thermal environment as a function of its location. Accordingly, there is a need for a dynamic passive solar energy system capable of providing passive thermal control in proportion to a building's average daily and seasonal conditioning needs irrespective of location.